What Are Some Students Learning Styles
Everyone experiences the world in a unique way. Jump Start acknowledges this fact is foundational in our customized approach to teaching. We believe that every student has a particular learning style that will enable them to maximize their comprehension and achieve their full academic potential.
As parents, educators and students explore the differences between learning styles, we can work more effectively to help each student receive the best learning outcomes possible. This ensures a more positive and accommodating successful learning environment.
Teachers can explore learning patterns in many ways including evaluating students for learning styles and setting up group projects and lesson plans that are adaptive for visual auditory and kinesthetic learning.
Without acknowledging that students have different learning styles the traditional classroom setting can be intimidating and stressful for students who require instruction to be tailored to their specific needs. To avoid undue stress and anxiety it is important that educators adopt their lesson plans to suit multiple learning types and are adaptive to students’ needs.
How can we meet the needs of different types of learners? We’ll outline the four types of learning styles and offer a few Jump Start tips on how students can practically apply this information when learning.
Learning styles and preferences take on many forms and not all students fit into one category. However, these are the most common types of learners:
- Visual Learners: Students who have a preference for visual learning prefer to see and observe things, including pictures, diagrams and written directions. Visual learners are also referred to as “spatial” learners. Students who learn through sight understand information better when it is presented in a visual way for them. These students tend to doodle, create lists and prefer taking notes.
The whiteboard or smartboard is a visual learners best friend when it comes to understanding things. Visual learners might also need more time to process material, as they observe the visual cues before them. These students should expect to take a little more time and space to absorb the information.
Tips and Strategies for Visual Learners
- Doodle diagrams of your written information in the margins
- Create a flowchart for the progression of your notes and ideas
- Make flashcards that include pictures or diagrams as visual clues
- Highlight key information in your texts or notes
- Create a chart or a series of boxes to remind you how to complete math equations
- Use a computer to convert data and notes into charts, tables, graphics, pictures, etc.
- Vocabulary mnemonics
- Hangman game
- Timelines
- Auditory Learners: Students who learn better when the subject matter is reinforced by sound would much rather listen to a lecture than read written notes, and they often use their own voices to reinforce new concepts and ideas. These types of learners prefer reading out loud to themselves. They are not afraid to speak up in class and are great at verbally explaining things. However, these learners may be slower at reading and could repeat things a teacher tells them.
Since these students generally find it hard to stay quiet for long periods of time, these auditory learners should be involved in the lecture by repeating the new concepts they learn. Group discussions can also help with auditory and verbal processors which they can use to properly take in and understand the information they are being presented with. Watching videos and using music are also helpful ways of learning for these students.
Tips and Strategies for Auditory Learners
- Use a computer or smartphone to record your notes read aloud
- Read your notes aloud when studying
- Work with a regular study partner to review out loud
- Work in a group where you can discuss the information
- Record lectures. If available, set the counter to zero when it begins and note the number at difficult times during lecture. Review these recorded times later for extra review
- When learning new material, especially equations, talk your way through the material
- Singing/create a song
- Use of metaphors/similes to compare and remember
- Use internet resources like YouTube
- Invent acronyms
- Kinesthetic Learners: These students are sometimes called tactile learners. They learn through experiencing or doing things. They like to get involved by acting out events or using their hands to touch and handle in order to understand concepts. These types of learners might also struggle to sit still but often be good at sports or like to dance. However, they may need to take more frequent breaks when studying.
The best way these students learn is by keeping themselves active. Students can try acting out a certain scene from a book or a lesson they are learning. Pacing can help these students memorize, and learn games which can involve moving around the classroom or by writing on the whiteboard to keep the momentum going. Once a kinesthetic learner can physically sense what they are studying, abstract ideas and difficult concepts become easier for them to understand.
Tips and Strategies for Kinesthetic Learners
- Type notes after class
- Write your notes onto flashcards
- Review flashcards while walking, using public transportation, at gym, etc.
- Fold pages in the reading where you can find critical information
- Sit near the front of the room
- Walk back and forth or move in some way when studying notes
- Read notes out loud
- Try creating models for the information at hand
- Use the internet to research subject material
- When possible, visit locations for your material (library, museum, historical sites, etc.)
- To learn a sequence or equation, use one note card for each step
- Highlight material when reviewing/studying
- Use a dry-erase or chalk board to study or review
- Correlate physical movements with ideas/terms
- Reading/Writing Learners: These students prefer to learn through written words. While there is some form of visual learning, these types of learners are drawn to expression through writing, reading articles or books, writing in diaries, looking up words in the dictionary and searching the internet for just about everything.
Because these students like to absorb information through the written word, they should also give themselves opportunities to transfer their ideas out on paper as well.
Tips and Strategies for Reading/Writing Learners
- Rewrite notes after class
- Use colored pens and highlighters to focus on key ideas and definitions
- Write notes to yourself in the margins
- Write out key concepts and ideas
- Compose short explanations for diagrams, charts, graphs
- Write out instructions for each step of a procedure or math problem
- Print notes for review
- Post note cards/post-its in visible places (on the refrigerator, on the bottom of the remote, etc.)
- Organize your notes/key concepts into a Powerpoint slideshow
- Compare your notes with someone else’s
- Repetitive writing
When students have access to the right tools, they are empowering themselves for their future. When they pinpoint how they learn best, it can affect their ability to connect with the topics they are learning, as well as how they participate when they are in class.
In summary, learning styles has to do with how people bring new information into their knowledge base. When students understand their learning style, it enables them to use their strengths as they study for courses and learn new things in life.
Jump Start Tutoring Service is committed to finding trending topics and offering you free and effective educational resources. Resources are always a great tool for supplementation and for enhancing your child’s learning strategy.
However, tests and exams can be the most stressful events in a student’s educational career. They often play a large role in determining their grades, and subsequently affecting student’s placement in more advanced classes. In addition, tests like the SAT or ACT which determine college entrance and scholarship awardings can create added stress as the stakes are high and staying focused for three hours can be a challenging task.
At Jump Start Tutors located in South Florida we believe that every student has a particular learning style that will enable them to maximize their test scores and achieve their full academic potential.
Jump Start Tutors can help your child get ready for your upcoming test and exams. We can also help you prepare for the FSA, SAT, PSAT, SSAT, AP & IB.
At Jump Start Tutoring, we understand that student’s stress levels have also increased. Our tutoring service offers students the opportunity to combat anxiety, recall information faster, and conquer tests with more confidence! That is why we evaluate our students using one-on-one assessment testing to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses.
Our tutors will also help students navigate their courses and tests with a hands-on learning experience in-home or online; as they discover their learning style, reading, writing, math, science, history, test prep, study skills and much more! Choosing our online tutoring services includes interactive whiteboards, screen sharing, document sharing and video tools to make online test prep more personalized and fun.
Give your child the benefits of in-home and online tutoring today! Check out our newly designed website to learn more about our private tutoring programs. Call Jump Start for a FREE consultation: (954) 440-5787
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